Superwhisper not working? The fixes, by what you see
The short answer
Most Superwhisper problems on a Mac come down to four things: it is listening to the wrong microphone, a macOS permission is missing (Microphone to hear you, Accessibility to paste), another app owns the shortcut, or a cloud model has no connection. Your words are rarely lost: Superwhisper saves each dictation in History, where it can be played back and reprocessed after the fix. Flit, a local dictation app for Mac, is a simpler setup: one voice model that you choose once, and formatting that runs on the Mac with no connection.
How to fix Superwhisper on a Mac
- Open Superwhisper’s settings and look at the top-right corner of any pane. That is the active microphone. Switch it if it is the wrong one.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and make sure Superwhisper is switched on.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and switch Superwhisper on there too. Without it, nothing can be pasted into other apps.
- Start a recording and speak. If the waveform does not move, audio is not reaching the app: try the Mac’s built-in microphone.
- If nothing happens when you press the shortcut, try an uncommon key combination. If that works, another app owns the first one.
- If a dictation hangs on processing, check your connection, or switch that mode to a local model.
- Quit and reopen Superwhisper, then retry the dictation from History. The audio is already saved.
- Choose Check for Updates in Settings → Configuration.
Before reporting a problem, turn on Error logging in Settings → Configuration and reproduce it once. That is what Superwhisper’s support asks for.
The steps cover the common causes in the order worth checking. The table matches what you see to the cause, and the sections below go through each. Every fix is from Superwhisper’s own troubleshooting pages.
What you see, and what causes it
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "No voice found" | The recording had no detectable speech: the wrong or a muted microphone | Check the active microphone and the Microphone permission |
| The text is in History but was not pasted | Accessibility permission is off, or the cursor moved | Enable Superwhisper under Accessibility; keep focus in the field |
| Old clipboard text is pasted | The clipboard was restored before the app read it | Set Clipboard content to Replace with dictation |
| The text is pasted twice | Simulate keypresses is on and the app also accepted the paste | Turn Simulate keypresses off for that app |
| Nothing happens on the shortcut | Another app or the system owns the key | Pick a key no other app uses |
| Raw, unformatted text | The AI step failed, usually with no connection | Reconnect, or reprocess from History |
| Stuck on processing | No connection for a cloud model, or a local model still downloading | Check Settings → Models library |
| Slow, or heavy on memory | A local model too large for the Mac | Choose a smaller model, or keep it loaded for longer |
| The app will not open | macOS older than 14 | Update macOS, or install an older release |
"No voice found"
Superwhisper explains that this message means the recording had no detectable speech in it, and that the cause is almost always the audio input, not the model.
Play the recording back from History. If it is silent, the input device was wrong or muted. Superwhisper also suggests turning on Automatically increase microphone volume in Settings → Sound, which raises the input volume when a recording starts. It works only with the system default device.
With AirPods or another Bluetooth headset, its documentation says audio quality often drops when the headset’s microphone is active, and suggests choosing the built-in microphone while you keep listening through the headset. The AirPods guide explains why.
Text that does not paste
Superwhisper delivers its result by pasting at your cursor. Its page on pasting says that when this goes wrong the transcription itself is fine and is in History.
- Accessibility permission is the most common cause. Enable Superwhisper under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
- Keep the cursor where you want the text. If you click elsewhere while it processes, the paste has no target, and the text stays on the clipboard for you to paste by hand.
- Some apps block pasting: secure fields, some terminals and virtual machines. The Simulate keypresses option types the result key by key. Superwhisper calls it experimental, and it supports only the US QWERTY layout.
- If your earlier clipboard content is pasted, set Clipboard content to Replace with dictation in advanced settings.
A shortcut that does nothing, or starts the wrong mode
There are two kinds of shortcut, and Superwhisper says mixing them up is the most common cause. Global shortcuts, in Settings → Configuration, record in whatever mode is active. Each mode can also have its own shortcut, which switches to that mode first. If the same key is set in both places, the wrong mode starts.
When nothing happens at all, another app or the system usually owns the key. Check System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts for the same combination. Superwhisper notes that a modifier key such as Fn can work on its own, but that some keyboards send Fn to the system instead of to apps.
One setting can make it look broken when it is not: if the recording window is set to None, recording works and shows nothing on screen. Dictate a line and look in History.
Raw text, or stuck on processing
Superwhisper works in two steps: a voice model transcribes, then a language model formats. When the second step fails, it pastes the raw transcription. Its documentation notes that most language models run in the cloud, even in modes with a local voice model, so being offline is the usual reason.
Reconnect, or set that mode’s language model to a local one, then reprocess the dictation from History. If you added your own API key, paste it fresh from the provider’s dashboard: an expired or restricted key fails in the same way.
A dictation that hangs on processing has the same two causes, plus one more: a local model that has not finished downloading cannot transcribe. Settings → Models library shows the state.
Slow dictation and memory use
Superwhisper’s performance page points at the model first. Local models run on your Mac, so they need free memory. Its suggestions are to close memory-heavy apps, choose a smaller model such as Whisper Base, or move that mode to a cloud model.
The Voice model active duration setting, from 10 seconds to an hour, decides how long a model stays loaded. A short duration frees memory and reloads the model for each dictation; a long one keeps it ready and holds the memory.
To find which step is slow, open a dictation in History and compare the voice and AI processing times.
When the app will not open
Current releases need macOS 14 or later. On an older Mac, Superwhisper’s page says to install an earlier release from its list of previous versions; version 2.16.1 is the last for macOS 13.3. Older versions get no new features or fixes.
Otherwise, download it again and drag it into Applications over the old copy. That is safe: your settings are in the Superwhisper folder, not in the app.
If you want fewer things to configure
Flit does one job, dictation into any app while you hold a key. It has no modes to set up and no cloud step, which removes several of the causes above.
- One voice model, chosen once. There is no separate language model to pick, and no API key.
- Formatting runs on the Mac, so being offline cannot leave you with raw text.
- One gesture: hold a key to talk, release to finish.
- Its own microphone setting, in Settings → General.
- Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.
Good to know
- Flit needs the same two macOS permissions, Microphone and Accessibility, and it pastes at the cursor as Superwhisper does. Those causes do not go away.
- Flit has no custom modes or prompts of your own, no cloud models, and it does not record meetings. If you use those in Superwhisper, Flit does not replace them.
- Flit runs on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. There is no Windows, iPhone or Android app today; Windows is in the works.
- The voice model is a download of about 0.5 to 2.3 GB that you choose once. After that Flit needs no connection.
- Flit holds no SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA certificate. Nothing you say reaches a server, so there is no server to certify. If your organization requires a certificate, Flit does not have one.
Questions people ask
Why is Superwhisper not working on my Mac?
The usual causes are the wrong microphone, a missing Microphone or Accessibility permission, a shortcut that another app owns, or a cloud model with no connection. Your dictation is normally still in History.
What does "No voice found" mean in Superwhisper?
That the recording had no detectable speech. Superwhisper says the cause is almost always the audio input: check the active microphone, the Microphone permission, and whether the waveform moves when you speak.
Why does Superwhisper not paste my text?
Most often because Accessibility permission is off. Enable Superwhisper under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. The text is still in History and on your clipboard.
Why did Superwhisper paste unformatted text?
The AI formatting step failed, so it pasted the raw transcription. Most language models run in the cloud, so check your connection, then reprocess the dictation from History.
Does Superwhisper work offline?
With a local voice model, transcription does. Its documentation says most language models run in the cloud, so AI formatting needs a connection unless you choose a local language model.
Which macOS does Superwhisper need?
Current releases need macOS 14 or later. Superwhisper lists older releases for earlier versions of macOS.
Is there a simpler dictation app than Superwhisper for Mac?
Flit is a local dictation app for Mac with one voice model and no modes to configure: hold a key, speak, and finished text lands in any app. Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.